ALEX BERENSON: Trump's marijuana order pushes a dangerous lie about drugs |
President Donald Trump announced that marijuana will be reclassified from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III, shifting it away from drugs like heroin and ecstasy in its previous category.
On Friday, I debated cannabis legalization at AmericaFest 2025, the annual convention for Turning Point USA, the group led by Charlie Kirk until his assassination in September. Here’s my opening argument:
My opponent this afternoon is Katherine Mangu-Ward, the editor-in-chief of Reason magazine and a staunch libertarian. Katherine’s pinned post on X calls for the legalization of heroin, so at least she is consistent.
I too am consistent. I believe the liberal and libertarian effort to destigmatize, normalize, legalize and even promote the use of "drugs of abuse" has been a catastrophe for the United States.
We are a global outlier on this issue. We have reaped nothing but pain for a generation of ideologically driven decisions to make drugs more accessible to both young people and adults.
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO RECLASSIFY MARIJUANA AS LESS DANGEROUS DRUG AMID GOP BACKLASH
By "drugs of abuse," I mean drugs that produce a subjective high that makes people want to keep using them and to use more over time. The precise biochemical mechanism and whether the high is stimulating, sedating or intoxicating matters less than the fact of its temporary pleasure. Of course, those drugs include cannabis. Yes, alcohol is a drug of abuse too. So are medically prescribed drugs, from Oxycontin to Adderall to Valium.
Cannabis Culture store in Manhattan, N.Y., Oct. 21, 2022. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Unfortunately, Thursday’s decision by President Trump to "reschedule" cannabis and make it more accessible will only worsen this self-imposed crisis and lead to more drug-driven misery........